For those memorizing Pali, a tip: prose is much easier than verse

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Since the question of memorizing Pali verse vs. prose came up elsewhere, I just wanted to share from my experience a little tip.

Often people start memorizing Pali by learning the three main parittas (Mangala, Ratana, Metta) or some other verses. This is a bad idea!

Pali prose is an order of magnitude easier to memorize and maintain accurately compared to verse. Like, word for word you can expect to memorize prose maybe four or ten times faster, and retain it more accurately with less work.

Why? Because prose has lots of repetitions, as well as a nice logical syntax*, simple grammar, familiar vocabulary, and many other features. But mostly it’s the repetitions. In a doctrinal sutta, you frequently find the same sentence with just a word or two changed. That means you’re constantly being trained in repetition-with-variation, which is the most effective way to remember anything.

Verse has far fewer repetitions, illogical syntax, rare grammatical forms, unusual terminology, plays on words, and so on, all of which make verbatim memorization difficult. Sure, there’s a metre that helps a bit, but it doesn’t nearly make up for everything else; anyway, Pali prose has its own rhythmic structures; again, repetitions, and waxing syllables.

So if you want to memorize Pali texts, take it from someone who has memorized many hours of Pali prose and verse: start with simple prose texts. The first three suttas are a good place to start. Unless you’re learning specifically to participate in a chanting community, I would recommend then going on to learn a range of prose texts, based on your preferences, starting with short Samyutta and Anguttara texts, then moving to the Majjhima.

  • By “logical syntax” I mean the word order appears in a sensible and predictable way. In Pali, word order can usually be changed without affecting meaning. Verse does this often for metrical or rhetorical effect, whereas in prose the word order is rarely altered.
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This should go without saying, but I’ll highlight again that this is advice for people who know / are learning Pāli grammar. For those memorizing Pāḷi as a series of sounds, the regular meter of Pāli verses will be easier than prose.

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Not at all. I learned most of my Pali texts long before I studied grammar. You recognize the repetitions and forms of the text, you know it is vedanā and then viññāṇaṁ long before you know the difference between feminine and neuter declensions.

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Over the past year I set and completed the task to memorize the " three cardinal suttas" (Dhammacakkappavattana, Anattalakkhana, Adittaparayaya) although I had no knowledge of Pāli. They were like learning very long ballads. The innate rhythm and poetic nuance revealed themselves as the suttas became more familiar and settled in my memory. The experience has deeply enriched my knowledge of the teachings and my appreciation for the brilliance of the Buddha and the unbelievable devotion of the Sangha to have preserved these words over millennium. They accompany me throughout my days and nights and have brought a peace I never expected to experience.

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Wow, thank you! This makes a lot of sense. :pray:t2:

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Thanks for starting this conversation, bhante!

To add to this, something many monastics may be familiar with: when memorizing strings of verse, it is very easy to forget the correct order of stanzas or leave stanzas out. Often we learn stanza-by-stanza. Because the metre and structure tend to be uniform throughout the poem, the mind can easily confuse or misplace them.

While forgetting the order or missing repetitions is common in any kind of memory, I think it’s worth applying more attention to it when memorizing gāthās.

I’ve found it helpful in general to note clues in the text that are like buried treasure by the readactors and reciters of the past for future reciters to discover. The subtleties of this may easily go unnoticed if you do not memorize and repeat the verses many times in the original language.

I think there is also plenty of room here for personal mnemonic cues. Find patterns that naturally emerge to you, and note them to yourself while reciting to keep the order in tact. Here is a basic example of what I mean from the Mangala Sutta to give an idea:

Mātāpituupaṭṭhānaṁ, puttadārassa saṅgaho; Anākulā ca kammantā, etaṁ maṅgalamuttamaṁ.
Dānañca dhammacariyā ca, ñātakānañca saṅgaho; Anavajjāni kammāni, etaṁ maṅgalamuttamaṁ.

Notice how these stanzas have a parallel structure with the placement of the word ‘saṅgaho.’ Each time, it occurs after a word for people or family members. The penultimate lines of the stanzas also have some pairing (‘kammantā’ and ‘kammāni,’ with an ‘an-‘ word before them). ‘Dānañca dhammacariyā ca’ has some alliteration as well. All of these things can be noted in the learning process in a relaxed way.

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Sadhu,Sadhu,Sadhu, muditacitta ,such an inspirational :pray: :+1:

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Thank you Bhante for the great tips. :pray:

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Couldnt agree more! DN1 DN2 and DN3 are the backbone of the entire edifice. Its the obvious place to start :wink:

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Well, you’re made of sterner stuff than I, Bhante! :pray: I completely failed at memorizing the Pātimokkha before taking your (and @johnk 's) Pāli class. And now it’s… well, not exactly easy but at least the subtle variations between repetitions mostly make sense now :blush: Perhaps the prose of the e.g. DN or AN is a different beast, though?

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I’m guessing that by the first three suttas Bhante meant

Just in case folks needed help finding them

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And this:

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/wheel017.html

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I have Ven. Jiv’s pāli recordings of SN35.28 here and SN56.11 here for those interested. These are publicly available on my Google drive.

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